STORY: UNESCO addition shows influence of Spring Festival culture: Croatian scholar
SHOOTING TIME: Jan 18, 2025
DATELINE: Jan 19, 2025
LENGTH: 00:01:30
LOCATION: Zagreb 
CATEGORY: CULTURE 

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Confucius Institute at the University of Zagreb
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): KRESIMIR JURAK, Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Zagreb
3. various of Confucius Institute at the University of Zagreb
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): KRESIMIR JURAK, Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Zagreb
5. various of celebration of the Spring Festival
6. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): KRESIMIR JURAK, Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Zagreb   

STORYLINE:

A Croatian scholar said that the Spring Festival has proved to be culturally and historically important enough to inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): KRESIMIR JURAK, Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Zagreb
"I think the most important part (is) that it shows that the Chinese Spring Festival is really this level of festival, this level of event that UNESCO would consider it to be cultural enough and historic enough and important enough to put it on this very important list. These steps are helping us become more connected as civilizations, as cultures, as people and, of course, as states."

China now boasts 44 cultural elements or practices, the most of the kind worldwide, on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): KRESIMIR JURAK, Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Zagreb
"China's culture, Chinese history, Chinese civilization is huge, it's long, it's well developed, it's a high-level culture and civilization which really developed many of these cultural-specific, non-material things that are bringing to the world list of cultural heritage."

At present, about one-fifth of the world's population celebrates the Spring Festival in different forms and nearly 20 countries have made the Spring Festival a public holiday. 

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): KRESIMIR JURAK, Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Zagreb
"I think it's interesting, it's colorful, it has a great tradition, it has a lot of people supporting it in this way. I think in many countries, including in Croatia, more and more people are enjoying this culture."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Zagreb.
(XHTV)